Leading and Motivation: A case study of FedEx and UPS Inc.

1 Leading and Motivation: A case study of FedEx and UPS Inc. Leading Introduction: Leadership is the process of willingly influencing people to contribute to the organisation's goals and objectives. Leaders are required in organizations to help unite people and reduce conflicts between different stakeholders. There are many challenges that leaders encounter and they must be prepared to face such challenges. Change management is an essential skill that leaders should have because many processes change within the organization.

Leaders must possess good interpersonal skills so that they can relate well with their followers to achieve the goals which have been set (4). This section of the paper discusses how leadership can be applied in an organization to achieve goals and solve problems. A case study of FeEx Inc. has been used with a clear analysis of Fred Smith's leadership skills, the founder of FedEx. Leadership: Fred Smith is a renowned leader who founded FedEx Inc. after serving in the Vietnam military in the position of a marine back. From the military job, Fred acquired his leadership skills, which helped him pursue his business successfully. Fred opined that the military teaches its officers good leadership skills to influence people to achieve organizational goals. Military leadership requires that a leader should trust his followers will achieve the set goals. Leaders in the military must ensure that their followers achieve the goals which have been set. Failure to achieve the goals can lead to serious mistakes, especially in a war where a simple mistake can cause death to many people. According to Smith, leaders are required to get the maximum output from their followers by encouraging them to contribute all their effort towards achieving the organization (7).

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2 Fred Smith has identified efficiency in communication as the most important aspect of achieving good leadership skills. Leaders must also provide feedback to their followers to ensure a complete understanding between and among people in an organization. Fred was also of the opinion that managing change in an organization is very important to achieve goals and overcome competition from other players in the industry. He also explained that report cards are important in an organisation so that employees can know what is expected of them and how to perform duties assigned to them (7). Employees need to be appreciated for their contribution to the organisation's goals by providing them with attractive rewards and sharing in the organisation's profits, among other incentives (4).

There is a time when FedEx Express National, a subsidiary of FedEx was faced with low employee motivation and high rate of turnover. This was a great challenge, especially when the company was launching its new products. To solve this problem, the managers of FedEx used a 360-degree feedback system to identify the causes of the problems facing the company and identify leadership strengths and weaknesses as applied by the managing director and the senior managers (5). The analysis found out that there was inefficient communication between the managing director and the senior managers. To solve this problem, the managing director improved communication among the employees. This created trust among the employees and their leaders, and the company was able to improve communication systems among all stakeholders. This reduced the rate of employee turnover, and the work environment was favorable for achieving the organisation's goals. The performance of the employees also improved.

To improve the performance of employees, Fred Smith encouraged efficient communication between the leaders and their followers. Fred Smith encouraged the workers to put all their effort towards performing their jobs because they were doing a very noble business which was important to many people in the world. Smith was able to maintain change within the company, depending on the prevailing conditions.

For example, Smith developed Zapmail in the 1980’s to improve communication among all organisation stakeholders. This technology led to the development of a worldwide express market. FedEx continued changing its systems to avoid competition risks from other companies in the industry (7).

Summary: From the case study of Fred Smith, leadership is observable based on efficient communication, good feedback system, and adapting to change.

Feedback system is used to identify conflicts within an organization while communication helps identify solutions to the conflicts. Therefore, communication and feedback complement each other. Adapting to change helps improve the workplace environment. Adapting to change requires taking risks to overcome the turbulent workplace environment. Thus, success in an organization is achieved by using good communication and feedback systems and adapting to change.

Motivation Introduction: Employees with needs that need to be satisfied and fail to satisfy these needs can cause poor performance. They are motivated to work towards achieving the goals of the organization when their needs are satisfied.

Therefore, motivation can be explained as the aspiration to satisfy needs of an employee in an organization. Employees are willing to contribute towards the goals set by an organization when their needs are satisfied. Competition in the global markets has intensified, and there is a need to develop strategies of motivating employees to come up with innovative ideas about production (3).

3 In this section, two companies FedEx and UPS Inc., will be studied to motivate their employees to improve performance.

Motivating employees: Job satisfaction improves the level of motivation for employees. Employees who are motivated and satisfied with their jobs can contribute willingly to the organisation's objectives. Maximum output is provided by employees when they are motivated to work. Managers should realize that employees are the greatest assets that an organization has, and they should be treated with care. FedEx is a company that appreciates its employees and encourages them to contribute willingly to the goals and objectives that have been established. The company has realized that having the most efficient equipment and technologies is not as important as motivating employees. Organizations experiencing a lot of changes within a short time require motivated employees to keep pace with the changes being experienced at the workplace. (1). It is also important for employees working in such a work environment to socialize and understand each so that they can know their colleagues' strengths and weaknesses.

This creates effective teamwork in the workplace.

Organizations can use monetary or non-monetary motivational strategies to improve their performance. FedEx has been applying the two methods to motivate its employees. Examples of such motivational rewards include job promotions, training employees on new technologies, paid leaves, awards and other motivational strategies. UPS Inc. has also applied a motivational system similar to that of FedEx. To achieve its motivational goals, the company has introduced strategies such as 401(k) plan, healthcare plans, among other strategies (6).

FedEx Motivation: There is a compensation and reward program that the company established to motivate employees, encourage innovative ideas and encourage teamwork. To achieve this, the company has established several programs such as increasing employee wages, offering training sessions, paid leaves, offering discounts for travels, and shipping rates on employees and other programs. Promotional incentives at the company are offered depending on the performance of employees. Employees are trained in modern and up-coming technologies to equip them with changes in the global market. Paid leaves are offered when employees require maternity, marriage or paternity leave. Employees are offered a discount on their travels and shipment of goods to encourage them to use the company's services and make them feel like part of the company. Special awards are offered to employees with improved performance during a specific period (2).

UPS Motivation: The Company has adopted the strategy of offering continuous training to its employees to maintain performance quality. Employees are offered opportunities to advance their education in support of the company.

Employees are promoted depending on the level of education they have acquired from the sponsorship of the company. Gradual growth in career is maintained by offering employees the opportunity to learn step-by-step until they achieve good skills. Other benefits accrued from working at the company are paid weekends and holidays, healthcare benefits and others. Workers at the supply chain departments are offered financial assistance, dental and vision insurance schemes, other types of insurance, retirement benefits, and the 401(k) scheme. Freight employees are offered schemes such as 401(k) plans, medical cover, dental and vision insurance paid leaves (8). These incentives have motivated UPS employees, and the company has achieved most of its objectives because employees are ready to work towards achieving the goals. UPS has maintained a high level of competition in the market by

4 adopting better human resources management strategies that have placed it at a competitive edge in the market.

Summary: Motivation is an essential aspect of an organization that makes employees improve their efficiency leading to improved performance. Motivation provides incentives to employees to improve their work quality and perform promptly.

Rewards given to employees motivate them to provide extra time to the job they are assigned. The success of a business depends on the managers' ability to motivate and encourage its employees to contribute willingly towards the organisation's goals and objectives. Employees are motivated by monetary factors, and managers should use a mixture of strategies to motivate their employees. Managers should be able to identify what motivates their employees most to avoid investing blindly towards motivational strategies. Motivation has been identified as a factor which reduces employee turnover and encourages them to become efficient in their activities. The motivational schemes should be continuously changed to ensure employees graduate from one level of motivation to another. This should be done to avoid stagnation at one level of motivation.

5 End Notes (1) Bohlander, GW and Snell, S. Managing human resources. Cengage Learning, 2007. ISBN 0324314639, 9780324314632 (2) FedEx. "FedEx Careers". Retrieved November 16, 2010 from; http://fedex.com/cn_english/careers/compensation.html (3) Gitman, LJ and McDaniel, C. The future of business: The essentials. Cengage Learning, 2008. ISBN 0324590768, 9780324590760.

(4) Greenleaf, RK, and Spears, LC. Servant leadership: a journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. Paulist Press, 2002. ISBN 0809105543, 9780809105540.

(5) Real Time Performance. Leadership makes the difference: How FedEx increased employee engagement to successfully launch a new service. Retrieved November 16, 2010 from http://www.realtimeperformance.com/case_studies/fedex.pdf.

(6) Retirement prudential. Teamster-UPS 401 (k) plan transition. Retrieved November 16, 2010 from; https://www.retirement.prudential.com/cws/teamsterups/UPS_Transition_QA. pdf.

(7) Smith, Fred. "How I delivered the goods". Fortune Small Business. 29 October 2010 <http://fedex.com/us/about/news/ontherecord/speaker/fredsmith.pdf>.

(8) UPS. "UPSCareer". Retrieved November 16, 2010 from; https://ups.managehr.com/SCS_ben.htm